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Rhythms 79
-
CELEBRATING 25 YEARS OF RHYTHMS MAGAZINE -
THE GLORY DAYS OF AUSSIE PUB
ROCK – vOLUME TWO
In the late ‘70s and early ‘80s rock
music in Australia was thriving. There
were thousands of pubs presenting
hundreds of bands across the country
sometimes every night of the week.
Some big names developed from this
scene – Cold Chisel, Midnight Oil,
Divinyls, The Angels, Hunters and
Collectors just to name a few. There
were also many others who were
local heroes or on the second rung
of stardom – Matt Finish, The Aliens,
The Numbers for example. Last
year Dave Laing, the Creative A&R
manager at Warner, released a 4 CD
compilation featuring this pub-rock
scene which went on to become one of
the biggest selling compilations of the
year, staying on the ARIA chart for six
months. I asked Laing why he thought
it was so successful. “It really hit a
nerve. Besides featuring some massive
bands, it also featured a lot of lesser
names and gave it a bit more weight.”
He agreed that it appealed to the
casual fan as well as collectors. “The
pub scene in Australia at that time was
absolutely massive – bands could play
every night of the week. Thousands
upon thousands of people saw a
multitude of bands – some were stars
and others were local bands trying to
break. People bought the set to have
all those songs they remember – the
hits but also a song they heard maybe
only once or twice and remember.”
GloRy dAyS oF AUSSIE
PUb RoCK
The quality of Australian music at this time was absolutely world class and could
compete with the scene in the US or UK quite easily. “I think it comes down to
the pub circuit. There wasn’t anything like it elsewhere in the world,” explains
Laing. “A lot of bands – a lot of competition, new bands had to get good really
quickly. It was cut-throat and with that intense competition came quality.
“Vanda and Young had a big influence on the pub rock sound both initially
with their work with The Easybeats and also their productions in the ‘70s. The
sound also grew out of the blues rock scene of the early ‘70s with bands like Billy
Thorpe and The Aztecs and Chain. Bands in the studio were able to get a really
powerful sound – it had all the volume and electricity that people were hearing
live. They took that power and added great songs and arrangements to come up
with classic tracks.”
The pub rock scene thrived until the early ‘80s when the English sound featuring
synthesizers rather than guitars became the fashion and discos started becoming
more popular – it was a new ball game.
The good news is that The Glory Days of Aussie Pub Rock – Volume 2 is now in
stores! Again a 4 CD collection that includes all of the big names and a generous
selection of lesser known tracks to attract everyone. With a total of nearly 200
songs on these two packages, I asked Laing if he found it difficult to find enough
songs this time around. “Definitely not! We started with a very big list knowing
that would not get licensing on some tracks. After sorting through we still ended
up with about 40 songs over what we could fit on the set. There is a real depth
of music from this period and genre. In fact we would have no problem putting
together a Volume 3 if asked!”
In the meantime purchase this Volume 2 (the price is right!), invite over a few
mates, fire up the barbie, have a carton handy and play this loud – you won’t
regret it!
STEVE BRITT